


Aftermath

by AAAtlas247



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 04:35:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15678129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAAtlas247/pseuds/AAAtlas247
Summary: This takes place during Captain America: Civil War, immediately after the scene when Bucky and Steve left Tony lying on the ground. This is my take on what might have been going through his head at that point. (AKA I just felt the need to write some angst).





	Aftermath

The cold wind cut through Tony like a knife as he watched Steve and Bucky slip into the shadows. Their footsteps faded behind them as they stumbled away, the two war buddies reunited once more. 

Tony laid there, crumpled in the snow, watching them go. His chest still heaved from the effort of fighting; the raw, bloody cuts that marred his forehead and cheeks stung violently, and his blood felt as though it were on fire. 

They had known. They knew. _Steve knew._

There were no words for this kind of pain. 

He wanted to cry. He wanted to die. But he refused to give Steve and Bucky the satisfaction of either. 

Tony knew he should move. He knew he should get up, get out of here. But the weight of the truth clawed at him, dragging him back down, holding him there. It played on repeat in his mind, looping behind his eyes, those horrible moments when he watched the sickening truth scream at him from behind a static-filled screen.  The gears turned frantically in his mind, trying to process, think, reason it all out. But no matter how he looked at it, the facts were the same: Bucky had murdered his parents, and Steve hadn’t told him. And there was nothing he could do about either. For all of Iron Man’s capabilities, it couldn’t turn back time. 

What a fool he’d been, to trust the man that his father had so adored. 

Tony let out a harsh, humorless bark of laughter. He wondered what dear old dad would say, if he could see him now. If he knew Howard, his father would’ve sided with Steve. He always had. Even now, he could almost hear him sneering. Mocking. Insulting.

He flinched, deciding that was a scenario he’d rather not play out. He didn’t want to think about it. The memories of his whole life, everything from his childhood up to the last ten minutes, seemed to surround him, suffocate him. It felt like everything he’d thought he’d known, the very foundation he’d been standing on for all these years, had been ripped away from him. Nothing but stone-cold emptiness remained in its place. Tony closed his eyes, but he couldn’t block the feeling out.

His one comfort was that his two adversaries were long gone by now, and he would be left to drag himself away in peace. A part of him, a very large part, just wanted to remain here in the snow. The chill didn’t soothe his injuries, but it was a constant, steady presence nonetheless. He didn’t want to leave it. As cold as the snow felt, he knew that, once he returned, Steve’s absence would feel colder still. And he didn’t want to deal with that pain. Not yet.

But the more rational part of him knew he simply couldn’t stay here. His suit was damaged, and before long the icy fingers of hypothermia would start trickling into his system. More importantly, Rhodey would need his help to recover. Pepper still might come back. And now he had a new spider apprentice to mentor.

He would mend his suit. He would support Rhodey. He would reach out to Pepper, he would train Peter. (In true Tony fashion, he would fix everything but himself.) 

For them, for their sakes, he couldn’t stay here, in the ice and the cold. 

He couldn’t rest just yet. 

He couldn’t stay down. No matter how much he wanted to. 

And so, with a massive effort, Tony Stark pushed himself to his feet.


End file.
